We are running Activestate Perl on Windows and need a module that will return whether two strings are similar.

We have tried to download using CPAN String::Similarity but it returns c:\mingw64\bin\dmake.exe not ok. Could this be something to do with 32bit / 64bit ? or is there any other module that will work with our setup?

When using ActiveState perl, I recommend that you always install modules with the ActiveState utility ppm. Its GUI interface is fast, easy-to-use, and always loads the module in a way that is compatible with your perl. The downside is that not all modules available on CPAN are available via ppm. Your module is available on my ActiveState installation. (Look for 'String~Similiarity' in the GUI interface)

I have taken Laurent's advise and installed only Strawberry on my desktop computer because of the 'missing module' problem. I now also recommend the change to Strawberry. Other than the way you install modules, you rarely notice any difference. Good Luck, Bill